The Obscure Downsides of Fame (New Edition)

34 || everyone dances

"Let's say... hypothetically speaking, that I like him. Like, romantically. Sexually. Would it be possible for him to like me in that way too?"

"W— why would you ask me that?" Did something give it away?

Only now did they turn around, but I knew that with my lying skills, one look at me would confirm their thought, so I averted my gaze to my shoes.

"Did he ever try something on you?"

Maybe they didn't know after all. All this subtle talking bullshit was confusing both of us.

"Maybe you should leave. Kylan and I aren't friends, we've never been friends, and we'll never be friends." My voice had stabilized, and I was proud of myself for a solid few seconds before they spoke again.

"Look, there's only two options when it comes to you," they said. "Either I can trust you, and you and Kylan had a thing that ended badly. Or I can't trust you, and you hate him for something he can't help, something you only figured out by accident."

"Kylan—"

My sentence got cut short immediately.

"At first I thought it was the latter, with some weird fetish for lesbians. But then Mylo told me you've been correcting people on my pronouns for the last two months."

I couldn't just not correct everyone. And of course it was Mylo who told Riley.

"I'm not trying to put you on the spot here. I had math in high school, that age gap was iffy. He's still sending me mixed signals. It must've not been easy."

"I'm really trying to stay out of this," I said. He was going to kill me if he found out about this conversation. He would actually murder me.

"Please. Do you think he'd like me?"

None of this was making sense. They were asking me, even though they'd already figured out Kylan and I had not been in a healthy relationship. They were asking me, the guy Kylan had probably explained broke him. Why were they asking me for advice?

"You know he likes you when he treats you like shit. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"If he likes me, then why does he treat me like that?"

"Whenever he likes someone, he's not in control. He hates that. Therefore he hates you. Until he doesn't and teats you like you're made of sapphire. And the cycle continues."

Love bombing, guilt tripping, gaslighting repeat. In an unlucky week, he'd maybe manage to sneak in some assault too. I couldn't understand how Riley could even like him, but they probably hadn't seen that side of him yet.

"He will hurt you," I warned them. Maybe in ten years from now would he not be as dangerous, but although he hadn't injured me in the time we've been working on this movie, he did find ways to torture me, primarily mentally.

"Not everyone can have the perfect romance," they said.

This was the most ridiculous conversation I had ever had.

"Thank you. I owe you," they said with a grin. A grin, after I told them Kylan would hurt them.

None of your business, I reminded myself. I had my own romance to worry about. Oakley, his birthday present, my Halloween costume, and somehow ditching Mylo and Maria while there.